From Tecalitlan to East Los Angeles

Julissa was born in the small town of Tecalitlán in the state of Jalisco Mexico. She grew up in Mexico for most of her childhood until she was about ten years old. Her family first came to the United States when she was six years old. At the time, her father had been working in construction, where jobs were starting to become increasingly scarce in their small town and supporting the family was becoming increasingly challenging. Moved by the promise of better opportunities up north, Julissa’s father decided he would migrate to the United States for some time to find stable work and support his family back in Mexico. He found work in Washington, but because of these arrangements, Julissa was only able to see her father once a year.

After two years of living apart, her family decided that they would still try their luck in the states, but they would do so together. As Julissa remembers, “…my mom didn’t feel like it was worth it for us to be seeing my dad for so little, which is why she ultimately made the choice of like, we were all going to be making a sacrifice, we were all going to do it together to be together as a family. Because at the end of the day, that’s what mattered most to us, to be together and to build together.” Thus, with the help of Julissa’s aunt, who had already been living in the states, they all migrated up north, settling in the city of East Los Angeles, a predominantly Latinx community. As Julissa recounts, her aunt was a key transnational network that helped facilitate the family’s migration process and navigate many avenues they didn’t know how to. She remarks, “…my aunt was the one that helped us get our papers. She was the one that filed for us because she’s my dad’s sister. So that’s how we would actually get our residency and ultimately move to the US, and she was here in LA, in East LA.” Julissa was ten years old when her family made the official move
to the US. As much as she missed her hometown and her friends from childhood, Julissa was happy to have her father living at home, who found work in an airline company in Los Angeles.

One of the hardest challenges Julissa and her family faced upon settling into their new life in the US was the language barrier. Neither Julissa nor her family spoke a word of English upon arrival, which proved hard to navigate for Julissa as she started school. She describes feeling frustrated going to school, where she didn’t understand anything, and others having difficulty understanding her. “…I have always been someone that has really liked going to school…And for people to question my language barrier because since I am… a white passing Latina, people would ask me why I wouldn’t know English… I’ve always been proud of my Mexican identity. But…I didn’t know how to tell them. I would only be able to respond to my native language, which was Spanish.”

While Julissa recognized and acknowledged the way her identity as a light-skinned Latina afforded her the chance to assimilate in White spaces, she remembers how it worked against her favor as those around her questioned her inability to speak English, since to their eyes, she should have been able to communicate as a typically Caucasian American, something Julissa remembers as causing a dissonance in her identity. When it came to her parents though, who were darker skinned, she expressed the frustration she felt when they faced racism and discrimination due to their inability to speak English. “My parents are more brown-skinned than I am and they were treated differently for that. Or like if my dad would try to speak English because he had an accent he was treated differently,” she remarks.

Halfway through the year, Julissa’s luck fortunately turned around, as she found someone to tutor her and help her improve her English. She found refuge in the library at her school, and tried to get her hands on and read as many books as she could, further improving her English literacy and communication skills. From then on she found it significantly easier to complete her schoolwork, connect with others and make friends in school. She did however, acknowledge the disillusionment she felt when realizing just how underserved her community was, especially compared to other areas in Los Angeles. “…you do envision having opportunities and you also see a lot of opportunities. Like if you drive past East LA to other wealthier areas of LA, you see a lot more resources being provided to those areas. So you do wonder if, like, the US is providing these opportunities, why there is this disproportionate dispersal of those resources” In a country supposedly rife with opportunity, Julissa became increasingly aware of the socio-economic disparities present in the US, as revealed to her while navigating the underserved school systems in LAUSD. But despite these challenges she faced, she was able to succeed in school and secure a full-ride scholarship as a first-generation college student.

The duality of having spent half of her life in Mexico, and the other half in the United States is central to Julissa’s identity. Since her move to the US, she still keeps in touch with friends and family back home, who she visits regularly. She describes her hometown with much admiration for the resilience of the people living there, and the love and joy she feels when reuniting with those in the place where she grew up. Thus, she officially describes herself as a Mexican American, deeply holding her experiences as an immigrant from Mexico in the United States with pride and gratitude. As she describes, “there’s value in that fusion of my identity and like it should be seen that way.” All things considered, when asked whether or not she felt like an American, Julissa responded, “this country has granted me like a new lens to look at things and has allowed me the opportunity to interact with different identities than me, or people who’ve migrated from different countries…I feel like because I’ve been granted that opportunity… that’s where I feel like I an American”.

Currently, Julissa is in college studying Biology, and is passionate about empowering her community. She enjoys art, studying botany, and looks forward to traveling the world someday and continuing to connect with others from all across the globe.

This country has granted me like a new lens to look at things and has allowed me the opportunity to interact with different identities than me, or people who’ve migrated from different countries… I feel like because I’ve been granted that opportunity… that’s where I feel like I an American.